Exploring the Idea of a Mississippi River Compact

 The idea or a Mississippi River Compact has been rumbling up and down the river for years without getting a real toe-hold. A Mississippi River Compact would be a legal agreement between all ten mainstem Mississippi River states and the Federal Government.  If enacted, a Compact could provide a forum for management over the entire watershed comprehensively using the sovereign powers of both state and federal governments.    Is it time now for a Mississippi River Compact? 

The video is also posted on LWV UMRR's YouTube channel.​

Recorded December 4, 2024  via Zoom webinar

Our speakers in this webinar are John Stack, JD, author of a Note in the Minnesota Law Review examining the feasibility of a Mississippi River Compact; Mayor David Kleis of St. Cloud and Minnesota Senator John Hoffman. Viewers will learn about the legal basis for a potential compact and the recent call by a group of Mayors along the River for a compact. Finally, we look at the political situation and what it would take, at least in one state, to establish such a Compact.

Speakers: 
John Stack, author of “The Mississippi River Basin Compact: A New Governance Structure to Save the Mississippi River”, will discuss: What is a compact?  How does the constitution address compacts?  Are there examples of successful water-body compacts?  What will a Mississippi River Compact accomplish?

Minnesota Senator John Hoffman, Senate District 34  has advocated for a Mississippi River Compact.  Senator Hoffman will discuss what a Compact could look like in Minnesota, and what would it take to pass legislation.   He will talk about the political forces at work and how a group like LWV UMRR can help.  

Mayor David Kleis of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and member of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative will focus on the city perspectives on the river and how a Compact will help.  This will include discussion of actions taken by Mississippi Rivers and Towns Initiative in September; and perspectives of a River city Mayor.​

The Mississippi River passes through ten states on its way to the Gulf.  Each of these ten states has their own priorities for appropriation, pollution protection and clean ups.  The Federal government has jurisdiction for enforcing the Clean Water Act, jurisdiction which was recently curtailed by the US Supreme Court’s Sackett decision.  This governance structure is not effective for protecting the Mississippi from out of basin appropriations, non-point source pollution and other stresses.  Climate change and population growth are exacerbating the problems. 

A Mississippi River Compact is a potential interstate agreement that would establish a unified management system across all states within the Mississippi River basin, aiming to address the critical environmental challenges facing the river by coordinating conservation efforts, water allocation, and pollution control under a single governing body, potentially providing a more comprehensive approach to protecting the river's ecosystem and future sustainability. 
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This session lays out the groundwork for LWV UMRR as we work within the League of Women Voters and with other like-minded nonpartisan organizations to support the efforts of the Mayors and others working toward a Mississippi River Compact.    This work is supported by the approved LWV UMRR 2024-25 Program for Action and the LWV US position on Inter-basin Transfers.  Click "Read More" below to see these documents.  

The LWV UMRR Program for Action was approved at the 2024 Annual Meeting - see document to the right.

lwv-umrr_ilo_program_for_action_2024-2025.pdf
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LWV US position on Inter-basin water transfers:
From Impact on Issues 2022-2024
 
Proposed Inter-basin Water Transfers
Interstate and inter-basin transfers are not new or unusual. Water transfers have served municipal supplies, industry, energy development, and agriculture. Construction costs of large-scale water transfers are high, and economic losses in the basin of origin also may be high. Environmental costs of water transfers may include quantitative and qualitative changes in wetlands and related fisheries and wildlife, diminished aquifer recharge, and reduced stream flows. Lowered water tables also may affect groundwater quality and cause land subsidence.
As we look to the future, water transfer decisions will need to incorporate the high costs of moving water, the limited availability of unallocated water, and our still-limited knowledge of impacts on the affected ecosystems. To develop member understanding and agreement on proposals for large-scale water transfer projects, state and local Leagues need to work together. The following guidelines are designed to help Leagues jointly evaluate new proposals for large-scale water transfers. The process for evaluating the suitability of new proposed inter-basin water transfers should include:

• Ample and effective opportunities for informed public participation in the formulation and analysis of proposed projects.
• Evaluation of economic, social, and environmental impacts in the basin of origin; the receiving area; and any area through which the diversion must pass, so that decision-makers and the public have adequate information on which to base a decision.
• Examination of all short- and long-term economic costs including, but not limited to, construction, delivery, operation, maintenance, and market interest rate
• Examination of alternative supply options, such as water conservation, water pricing, and reclamation.
• Participation and review by all affected governments.
• Procedures for resolution of inter-governmental conflicts.
• Accord with international treaties.
• Provisions to ensure that responsibility for funding is borne primarily by the user with no federal subsidy, loan guarantees, or use of the borrowing authority of the federal government, unless the proposal is determined by all affected levels of the League to be in the national interest.